Jacquie ’Alessandro - Holiday Inn Bed

Reaching for the doorknob, he tried to remind himself that Jess’s family loved her, that she wouldn’t be the vibrant, wonderful woman she was without their support. But sometimes, like right now, it was damn difficult to remember that.

He opened the door and Carol and Marc marched in amid a swirl of fat snowflakes and icy air.

“Hello, Eric, Kelley,” Carol murmured as she walked past him and his sister on her way to envelop Jess in a hug, blobs of snow plopping off her coat with each step. “Are you all right, dear?”

“Of course.” Jess accepted a brotherly peck from Marc, who offered Eric a terse nod and his usual glare. Jeez, did the guy ever smile? Eric felt his own tension rise at the frosty hello and frowning scowl Marc bestowed on Kelley-as if she was Public Enemy Number One. Kelley’s greeting to him was equally curt and her glower just as forbidding. He could almost see the sparks of animosity bouncing between them.

Great. Just another happy family reunion.

“What are you and Marc doing here, Mom?” An anxious look crossed Jess’s features. “Is something wrong at home?”

“Everything’s fine,” Carol assured her. “I needed to speak to you but you didn’t answer your cell. Marc offered to drive me to the lodge, so here we are.”

Jess shook her head, clearly confused. “If nothing’s wrong, what on earth did you need to talk about that couldn’t wait until after the weekend?”

“Why, the wedding, of course. When I couldn’t reach you, I called Kelley’s office hoping she could give me Eric’s cell phone number.” Carol flicked a glance toward Kelley whose frown resembled a thundercloud. “That’s when I learned that Kelley was on her way here.” This last statement was said in an unmistakably accusatory tone. She then turned fully toward Kelley and hiked up her chin. “Since it was obvious you were coming here to discuss my daughter’s wedding plans, I figured I’d best get here as quickly as possible.”

Eric could almost hear Kelley bristle, like a porcupine extending its quills. “They’re also my brother’s wedding plans, and since I have all the contacts-”

“Listen,” Eric broke in, knowing this was about to escalate into another nasty argument. Looking at Kelley, he said, “This is exactly why Jess and I came here this weekend-to get away from all the stress.”

“There wouldn’t be any stress if we could just nail down the details,” Kelley said. As much as Eric wished that were true, he knew the wedding details were only part of the problem. “It needs to be done. Now. Then I’ll happily go home. It’s not as if I don’t have a life besides this wedding, you know. I actually have a date tonight.”

Eric raised his brows at her defensive tone, but saw that she wasn’t even looking at him. She was glaring at Marc, who stood in tight-lipped silence, glaring right back at her. Good God, he needed a machete to cut a swath through the tense undercurrents clogging the room.

He glanced at Jess who looked like a teakettle about to spew steam. He knew exactly how she felt. He wanted nothing more than to tell all three of their uninvited guests to scram and leave them alone, that the only voice he wanted to hear between now and Christmas Eve was Jess’s. Unfortunately he knew that would only lead to World War III, which would only upset Jess, which would only lead to more tension. Damn, it was like the freakin’ Bermuda Triangle of ulcer-inducers.

So in an effort to keep peace, he swallowed his frustration and said in as pleasant a tone as he could manage, “As long as you’re all here and this has to get done, why don’t we go up to the lodge, order some hot chocolate and take care of this so we can all get back to our plans?”

Right. Because hopefully no one would cause a scene in the lodge. But instead of hot chocolate he might have to opt for a stiff drink. Or two. Or twelve. Not exactly the chilled champagne he’d planned to share with Jess in the cabin’s jet tub, but the sooner he got rid of their uninvited guests, the sooner he and Jess could get back to their weekend.

Everyone agreed. After he and Jess had slipped on parkas, they all filed out of the cabin. The snow was falling in earnest and the wind had picked up considerably, jabbing icy needles of stinging cold in his face. Holding Jess’s mittened hand, they trudged back to the lodge, with Kelley leading the way, followed by Carol and Marc who had their heads together, with Carol whispering to her son. With each step Eric tried to bury his growing resentment that both their families had not only thrust them into this untenable situation, but had now intruded on their private time together. Especially since their families were exactly what they were trying to get away from. He slowed their pace until he and Jess fell behind enough to not be overheard.

“You okay?” he asked in an undertone.

A humorless sound escaped her, causing a puff of frosty air. “Not really. I’m suffering from a major case of coitus interruptus.”

He stifled a groan at how close they’d been. “I hear ya.”

“Although I suppose it could be worse. All my brothers could have come with Mom.”

Since agreeing with that statement might be tantamount to tossing gasoline on a fire, he did what generations of men with sharply honed survival instincts did-he kept his mouth shut.

“I’m not happy about this, Eric.”

“Neither am I.”

“This has disaster written all over it.” She pulled her hand from his and pressed her mittens to her forehead. “This was supposed to be our time together. We need this time.”

“I know. And we’ll have it.” He took her hand again, not liking the sensation of her pulling away from him one bit. “I could have insisted they all leave, but I figured it would save time in the long run and be easier all around to just hammer this out here and now and be done with it rather than to first spend two hours arguing about whether or not to hammer it out here and now.”

“I suppose. Especially since I don’t think insisting they leave would have worked.”

“It would have required several tons of dynamite, and I’m fresh out.”

She didn’t so much as crack a smile. “The crazy thing is that all these nitpicky little decisions just don’t matter to me, and they’re making me crazy. I don’t care if the napkins are ‘dusty rose’ or ‘desert blush.’ Maybe because I’m more tomboyish than girly-girl. Or maybe I’m just weird because my wedding dreams have never centered around a white poofy dress and a fancy party. They’ve always just revolved around the man I’d someday marry. Just me and him. A simple setting-a few flowers, lots of candles. Speaking our vows.”

That sounded…perfect. “Have you told your mom that?”

“Of course, but she doesn’t listen. This wedding she wants for me? It’s really the wedding she always wanted but never had.”

Eric nodded. She’d told him how her parents were married by a justice of the peace. How they’d planned to renew their vows on their twenty-fifth anniversary, throw the sort of elaborate party her mom had always wanted. Unfortunately her father died before they could do it. “She has four unmarried sons whose weddings she could plan.”

Jess shook her head. “Maybe she could help, but wedding planning is pretty much a bride thing. Sadly for us, Mom’s become a Bridezilla without actually being the bride.”

“Kelley’s suffering from the same thing.” He leaned closer and brushed his lips over her cheek. “Maybe we should just lock them in a room together and let them hammer it out themselves.”

“Don’t think I’m not tempted. Yet even if, by some miracle, we’re able to work out all this wedding stuff, there’re still all the underlying hard feelings simmering between everyone. I feel as if I’m walking through a field of land mines. I’m just so damn tired of it. It’s exhausting. I’m at my wits’ end. I honestly don’t know how much more I can take.”

Her words suffused him with a dread he didn’t want to feel. Didn’t want to so much as acknowledge. But one that he couldn’t ignore. Although she didn’t say the words, he sensed-no, damn it, he knew-that they had to fix the situation this weekend-or else. He halted and turned to face her then clasped her shoulders. She looked up at him and the dismal expression in her eyes cramped his insides with an unpleasant sensation that felt very much like fear. Fear that everything he wanted was somehow slipping through his fisted hands.

“We’ll get this meeting over with quick, Jess-like yanking off a bandage. A fast meeting, then off they’ll go and we’ll resume our weekend.”

Her bleak expression didn’t change, twisting the knot gripping his insides even tighter. “Yanking off a bandage can really hurt, Eric.”

His fingers clenched, pressing into her parka. “We’re not going to let it hurt us, Jess.”

The fact that she didn’t instantly agree made him actually feel ill. Her gaze searched his, then she said quietly, “I don’t want it to, Eric, but-”

“No buts,” he cut in, not willing to even contemplate what she might have said next. “Everything is going to be fine.”

He just hoped like hell he was right.

With her stomach knotted with that “walking through the minefield” sensation, Jessica entered the lodge. After everyone hung up their snow-coated jackets on the large rack near the door, they headed toward the lounge area. A number of tables were filled, and half a dozen patrons sat at the bar, most of them checking out the hockey game showing on the overhead TV. The bartender-who looked so much like Roland Krause, Jessica would have bet they were brothers-polished glasses behind the curved mahogany bar.

Once they’d seated themselves in overstuffed leather armchairs around a low, round polished oak table set on antlers, a waitress wearing a festive red Santa hat to top off her red-and-green outfit approached with a friendly smile.